O's show some moves

The Orioles accomplished one of their primary goals at the winter meetings yesterday, trading catcher Ramon Hernandez , and moved closer to fulfilling another by nearing a final agreement with free-agent ...

[John]

At least Freel is a useful bench player which is a departure from the norm. I just hope Weiters isn't over matched once he gets here but we'll see. TheSS can'thit his way out of a paperbag but the price is right and he can field.

[Ghost Oriole]

Real fans hate it when the light shines on reality. Let's have a look at the stats of the newest Orioles:

2008 Ryan Freel 48 games 0HR 10RBI .298BA

2008 Cesar Izturis 135 games 1HR 24RBI .263BA

Wow. That's not good.

And fans will be amazed when the O's finish in last place...

[SevernDave]

Getting rid of Hernandez = addition by subtraction. Freel is an upgrade over Bynum, Fahey, Castro, Luis Hernandez, etc... PLUS, we get 2 minor leaguers who had pretty decent numbers last year. The big goal was making room for Weiters. Very small step, won't get us out of the cellar in '09. But guess what ---- neither will signing Texeira!!!

[fkterp]

Ghost Oriole wrote:

Real fans hate it when the light shines on reality. Let's have a look at the stats of the newest Orioles:
2008 Ryan Freel 48 games 0HR 10RBI .298BA
2008 Cesar Izturis 135 games 1HR 24RBI .263BA
Wow. That's not good.
And fans will be amazed when the O's finish in last place...

as long as the shortstop can be an above average fielder that's all you need from that position. if he was a great hitter bu lousy fielder he'd be worthless at the that position. i still see reimold and hernandez as back-up of and freel more of a backup inf.

[BirdLand]

Ghost you are never happy! You must not have a life since you are on here already.

I think the trade was great ....Ramon Hernandez was a waste behind the plate the last two years.For Cesar Izturis they got him for his glove which was a great move.
Second I bet Matt Wieters will be call up in May or June ,FO didn't want Ramon here for that .Next move would be to sign Gregg Zaun.Then sign three SP.Then the FO is done with signing FA.Now they can work on Nick Markakis and Brian Roberts contract-extension . If you notice I didn't say anything about Mark Teixeira .

[ver]

Ghost why do we ignore the prospects that came over---I'll take .260 and a gold glove candidate from the short stop position anyday--

[Kirk]

Orioles president Andy MacPhail arrived at the winter meetings looking to find a taker for Hernandez, acquire a starting shortstop and add starting pitching. WHAT ABOUT FINDING AN EVERYDAY FIRST BASEMAN NAMED TEX?

[M Robertson]

If Jon Garland wants $13 million a year, he should come to Baltimore....and be Mayor or Comptroller or City Council President. Then he can vote himself a pay raise. It's just a different variety of whoremanship.

[Prospect Expert]

More horrible moves.....

Waring was a fading prospect...should have just dealt Hernandez straight up for Juan Francisco, a power-hitting prospect with upside.

Reds have a logjam at third base with Encarnacion, Frazier, etc.

What about Felix Pie? I'm betting that deal falls apart and the Peavy deal gets done without the O's getting Pie.

Are these the kinds of moves that get a team anywhere near contention?

[Prospect Expert]

Also, with Delmon Young and Prince Fielder on the trading block, why hasn't MacPhail made any inquiries?

Guess the fans can be easily placated with the likes of Freel, Izturis, Murphy, Reyes, and Hennessey.

Garbage moves by a terribly misguided organization.

[Birds Fan]

Prospect Expert wrote:

Also, with Delmon Young and Prince Fielder on the trading block, why hasn't MacPhail made any inquiries?
Guess the fans can be easily placated with the likes of Freel, Izturis, Murphy, Reyes, and Hennessey.
Garbage moves by a terribly misguided organization.

Please you can't be serious about those 2 players.

[Joe]

Prospect Expert wrote:

Also, with Delmon Young and Prince Fielder on the trading block, why hasn't MacPhail made any inquiries?
Guess the fans can be easily placated with the likes of Freel, Izturis, Murphy, Reyes, and Hennessey.
Garbage moves by a terribly misguided organization.

D. Young is an overrated hacker (35 bb/639ab's) and the worst LF in baseball according to the fielding bible. Prince is good but is also rotund and as a Boras client nearing his F/A is not someone I want to give away young pitching for, he's worth it if hes the final piece but we have some work to do before we pull another ill-advised Glenn Davis like trade.

[Prospect Expert]

Joe wrote:

<quoted text>
D. Young is an overrated hacker (35 bb/639ab's) and the worst LF in baseball according to the fielding bible. Prince is good but is also rotund and as a Boras client nearing his F/A is not someone I want to give away young pitching for, he's worth it if hes the final piece but we have some work to do before we pull another ill-advised Glenn Davis like trade.

It's all about UPSIDE. Two years from now, Delmon will be putting up obscene numbers.

Power is the last thing to show (see Alexis Rios) and Delmon will prove he's a run producer.

I'll take my chances with Prince Fielder. He's primed for another 50 homer season. Plus, Milwaukee is looking for relief pitching. I'd deal 'em Sherrill, a guy like David Hernandez, and Nolan Reimold.

Teixeira is a pipe dream. He WILL NOT be an Oriole so we may as well look at other options.

[Ghost Oriole]

as long as the shortstop can be an above average fielder that's all you need from that position.
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Says who?

Please. If that's all you needed, why are the big hitters paid so much money?

O's fans are just plain dumb.

And if it didn't matter about a total lack of hitting, that's what the O's had last year.

[Ghost Oriole]

ver wrote:

Ghost why do we ignore the prospects that came over---I'll take .260 and a gold glove candidate from the short stop position anyday--

And the team will finish in last place.

Omar Vizquel was available. Why not him?

[Prospect Expert]

Birds Fan wrote:

<quoted text>
Please you can't be serious about those 2 players.

Hope you're happy with Jay Payton and Kevin Millar then...and another last place finish.

[Ghost Oriole]

Are these the kinds of moves that get a team anywhere near contention?
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Logic?

Don't waste logic on O's fans. They're giddy about Cesar Izturis.

I swear, they're really not too bright.

[Ghost Oriole]

Here's the now-typical interaction on this board:

News Item: O's sign weakest hitter in baseball, but hitter won a Gold Glove in 2004

Ghost Oriole: What a waste of a free agent signing. The guy isn't going to hit, and he's an average fielder, at this point.

Real O's fans: Ghost, you're always negative! You're never happy. The O's don't need hitting at every position.

Ghost Oriole: How is this rebuilding the team when the GM is signing FA's for short periods and isn't trading for real prospects?

Real O's fans: Andy MacPhail is a genius. His sheer will power will overcome all of his seemingly dumb moves. You're not smart enough to understand how one of the worst hitters in baseball will now produce for the Orioles.

[T-Bone]

Good riddance to Hernandez! Last year everyone of the posters were in complete agreement that he needed to go. Now the naysayers aren't happy with the return....Big surprise!
The Reds weren't going to part with Francisco, so why even go there. Freel wasn't brought here to be an everyday player, so if he can bring a spark to this club great!
Delmon Young and Fielder....please!
Young is overrated and Fielder will eat himself out of this league before too long. Izturis will bring us stability at the SS position and give us another base stealing threat. No he's not going to hit 20HR's, but we don't need him to. He's here to solidify the middle infield.
I say great move by McPhail and hopefully there's more to come.

[Ghost Oriole]

My comments on the "prospects":

1) Nice to see that Freel wasn't the whole of the deal. Freel is a major negative. The guy is trouble.

2) Waring strikes out more than 1/3 of the time in the low minors. That'll translate to 50% K's in MLB. He won't make it.

3) Turner looks like a weak-hitting 2B, but he's now the best 2B in the sytem. Get on board with Roberts' replacement.

At least MacPhail didn't trade for 30 year-old washouts (other than Freel).